WiseTech brings in rail game with $414m purchase

by Payload Asia

Software developer WiseTech Global is making a strategic step in integrating rail into its landside logistics business in North America as it announced the purchase of US-based Blume Global, for US$414 million.

WiseTech is buying the rail solutions company from funds managed by Apollo, EQT and other minority shareholders. Blume’s platform enables complete asset management and reservation processing for intermodal railroad operations.

The platform helps manage intermodal containers for six of the seven Class-1 US railroads in the US, ocean carriers and other intermodal equipment providers. These include freight forwarders and beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) . With Blume, railroads can manage and track crucial assets across the complete supply chain lifecycle.

Blume is projected to generate revenues in the range of US$65-$70 million in FY24 and expects to cash-flow breakeven by the end of FY24.

The latest purchase by WiseTech follows the recent US$230 million acquisition of Envase Technologies earlier this year, a leading provider of transport management system software for intermodal trucking, drayage (container haulage) and landside logistics in North America .

In its first half results, WiseTech posted $378.2 million in revenue, up 35 percent over the same period last year. The company’s flagship platform Cargowise generated revenue of US$289.2 million in the first half. The company hopes to grow revenue by up 26 to 30 percent in the second half and finish the year with revenue of $790 million–$822 million.

“This is another strategically significant acquisition that follows our acquisition of Envase Technologies last month,” said Richard White, founder and CEO of WiseTech Global.

“It further extends our capability in one of our six key CargoWise development priority areas, integrating rail into our landside logistics offering in North America, the most complex and largest logistics region in the world.

“This transaction demonstrates WiseTech’s continued investment in its CargoWise ecosystem, improving visibility and process efficiencies end-to-end across the supply chain for our customers.”